sometimes good paintings can be something like small escape paths. as sometimes they offer you the opportunity to flee for a brief while to a different place to disappear into a different time. hideaki yamanobe’s paintings definitely come close to functioning in this way. yet initially they seem to be little more than various gray tones on differently sized canvases. you will, however, swiftly find yourself seeing mysterious misty landscapes in them and attempting to discover hints of forests or settlements behind the opaque clouds. although you will not be successful, as figurativeness is not something to which yamanobe aspires. much more, the artist, who was born in tokyo in 1964, brings together traditions of western painting such as abstract expressionism with influences from his asian culture.